Volume One, Chapter 20: Paying a High Price for Trash

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From then on, whenever Su Jin touched something, Liu Lei would casually take out her card and swipe it. It wasn’t until Zhao Yao informed Liu Lei that the card had been maxed out that Liu Lei was shocked. “Impossible! This is my mother’s supplementary card with a limit of 600,000 yuan. How could it be maxed out?” Zhao Yao remained as graceful as ever. “You have already purchased items exceeding 600,000 yuan.” Liu Lei’s heart twitched inexplicably. Even if her family was wealthy, 600,000 yuan was not a small sum. Just like that, it was all gone. “So the limit is only 600,000 yuan? I thought you could buy out the entire antique store.” Su Jin, abandoning her previous sorrow and grievance, crossed her arms and spoke provocatively. Liu Lei felt an ominous premonition rising but stubbornly replied, “I only need to buy what I want.” “I want so many things: the calligraphy on the wall, the vase beside it, and that piece of jade…” Su Jin’s fair hand randomly pointed out five or six items in the store before sighing, “It’s a pity those things are too expensive. I’m afraid you can’t afford them.” Liu Lei, unable to restrain her anger, snapped, “Are you lying to me?” Immediately, she regretted it. Was she really offering her face to Su Jin to slap? Since the money was already spent, she needed to walk out with her head held high, without showing weakness. As expected, Su Jin let out a light “Oh?” and asked cheerfully, “What did I lie about?” That eager-to-know expression made Liu Lei want to slap her immediately. But with her hands full, she couldn’t hit her, so she turned to Zhao Yao and asked, “Are these items from Greater Yue?” If they were antiques from Greater Yue, it wouldn’t be a loss to buy them. Even though she had a vague suspicion, she still held onto a sliver of hope. But Zhao Yao’s next words left her completely stunned: “If these were truly from the Yue dynasty, they wouldn’t be priced like this. What you bought are all folk kiln products from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but they are definitely authentic.” What’s the use of authenticity? There are too many folk kiln artifacts preserved; they are essentially worthless! Liu Lei, who had studied Yue history and dabbled in antiques, knew only items produced by official kilns, supplied directly to nobles and ministers, were valuable. The pile of junk in her hands was practically worthless! 600,000 yuan had gone down the drain. If she still didn’t understand that Su Jin had been putting on an act, then she was a fool.

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Liu Lei’s face paled, flushed, and then went red again. She gritted her teeth tightly but was infuriated to the point of near collapse by Su Jin’s half-smiling, half-smirking expression: “Just you wait!” Su Jin sneered and didn’t even bother to respond. Just as Liu Lei was about to curse her, her mother’s call came through. Liu Lei didn’t want to answer, but the phone kept ringing, so she had to put down her items and free a hand to pick it up. Her knuckles accidentally hit the speakerphone button, and a sharp, angry voice came through: “What exactly did you buy? Why is the card maxed out?” Liu Lei’s expression darkened further. Glancing at Su Jin, she gritted her teeth and shouted back, “I’ll buy whatever I want! Can you stop yelling? It’s really annoying!” The other side fell silent for a moment, possibly not expecting to be shouted at. Then came a furious roar: “Say that again?” Without hesitation, Liu Lei hung up. Then she called out to the door, “Wang Qiqi, why are you still standing outside? Hurry up and help me carry these!” Wang Qiqi, hiding behind a car parked on the roadside, reluctantly entered the antique store. Her hands were stuffed with various bags, and the load was particularly heavy. She hadn’t followed Liu Lei inside earlier because she didn’t want to expose herself in front of Su Jin. Sure enough, Liu Lei was barking orders at her now, while Su Jin watched with a mocking smile, which made her very displeased. “What are you looking at?” Wang Qiqi dared not offend Liu Lei but wasn’t afraid of Su Jin. Besides, she resented Su Jin deeply. If Su Jin hadn’t kicked her out of the dormitory, she wouldn’t have had to cram into a four-person room. When she moved, all the school dormitories had been assigned, and the new campus had only one undergraduate dorm with vacancies left. The dorm conditions couldn’t be compared to before, and the three original roommates had even taken the empty beds to store their stuff, filling every free corner. Wang Qiqi couldn’t stand it and quarreled with them on the first day. The three were classmates who had lived together for over a year and now teamed up to exclude Wang Qiqi, making her life miserable in the dorm. She pinned all her grievances on Su Jin. Su Jin didn’t tolerate her at all: “Now I know where your designer bags and clothes came from.” Though she hadn’t said anything mocking, Wang Qiqi was furious. Liu Lei had suffered a huge loss; every second she stayed was another second Su Jin mocked her. She didn’t want to endure it and urged Wang Qiqi to leave quickly. The two left with heavy loads, and Liu Lei stomped the ground fiercely, as if the cement was Su Jin’s face. Zhao Yao smiled as she saw them off and then gave Su Jin a thumbs-up: “These junk items hadn’t sold in seven or eight years, and now they're all cleared out.”

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“You make money, I vent my anger; it’s a win-win for us.” Su Jin was in a very good mood. Shortly after she left, she received a message from Zhao Yao. Seeing photos of Wang Qiqi and Liu Lei, she was truly furious. These two wouldn’t leave her alone and had followed her all the way to the antique store. Su Jin immediately called a ride and returned to the shop. From a distance, she saw the two still lingering outside. If they wanted to know what she was doing, fine—she would just improvise based on all the misleading rumors Old Du spread. She asked Old Du and Zhao Yao to put on a show. Zhao Yao, worried some goods wouldn’t sell, readily agreed. Old Du shook his head helplessly: “Those antiques are only worth a few hundred yuan each; you can’t sell them for that high a price.” “She’s willing to buy. I didn’t lie to her; I even told her these were folk items from the Ming and Qing dynasties and not valuable.” Old Du was left speechless. Su Jin had indeed said that, but only after the items were sold. If Liu Lei wanted to return them at the time, they would have accepted the return. But Liu Lei didn’t say a word, probably not wanting to lose face twice in front of Su Jin, so she endured it. Thinking of something, Su Jin took a thread-bound book from her backpack and handed it to Old Du. “Take a look.” Old Du smiled, “Another good item?” What started as a casual joke turned serious as he opened a page and was astonished: “This is the history of the founding of Greater Yue—previously undocumented in unofficial records!” The book was the "Veritable Records of Yue," transcribed by Shen Yubai, with detailed annotations to help her understand. She had planned to read it herself before showing anyone, but after being provoked by Liu Lei today, she decided to share it with Old Du first. Liu Lei had even thought about following her; she certainly wouldn’t let her off easily at the hearing. Su Jin needed to prepare more thoroughly. “It also records some details about the location and architecture of Greater Yue’s capital. If we could conduct archaeological excavations based on this, could it help prove the authenticity of this historical record to some extent?” Old Du smiled wryly: “It’s difficult. After thousands of years of geological changes, even if we identify the exact location, it will take a long time for archaeological discoveries to confirm it.”